MESSE11: The First 120V Mixer

SPL Unveils NEOS 06-Apr-11

Here's the SPL press release...
SPL has grown a reputation as a manufacturer of quality preamps, signal processors and controllers for the recording and mixing segments. At the same time, the German manufacturer has also made itself a name among mastering engineers keen on high-end gear. To bring both worlds closer together, SPL introduces now the NEOS mixer, based on the manufacturer's tried-and-tested 120 V technology.
According to SPL, the NEOS was conceived first and foremost for mixing and monitoring applications in computer-based environments. The compact 7U 19-inch mixer includes 12 stereo buses for 24 channels, and a master bus. Every stereo bus can be switched to mono, while the Master bus features a complete monitoring section. Thus, states SPL, the NEOS is ideal to mix stereo stems and specific mono channels in analog, after having done all the editing on a computer.
With 120 volts (+/- 60 volts), the SPL powerhouse uses almost four times as much operational voltage as standard studio gear (+/- 15-18 volts). The first technical data provided by the manufacturer shows performance values that ought to raise some eyebrows:

> 30 dB headroom at the input

> 125 dB dynamic range

100 dB signal-to-noise ratio

"High-quality analog gear still offers unbeatable advantages when it comes to mixing and summing audio signals -- it's no surprise that major recording studios are reluctant to giving up analog technology," points out Wolfgang Neumann, SPL founder and R&D manager. "In terms of dynamic resolution, digital systems do a great job, but in order to match the time resolution of analog gear, their sampling rate would need to be somewhere around 500 kHz. When mixing, a high time resolution is needed to really grasp the signal's structure, which is responsible for location and transparency among other things. And that's where the advantages of analog technology come into effect -- even more so when the technology applied is beyond standard performance, like in the case of the NEOS." Pricing and Availability:
The MSRP of the NEOS is US$13,999 (9.899 euros inc. VAT or 8,318.50 euros ex. VAT).
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